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Need help identifying a Naval Vessel


Rakkasan187
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Greetings everyone,

 

Hope you are all doing well.

 

Today I received an email with this attached photo and I am having a hard time trying to determine what ship this is. The person who sent the email to me titles the picture "Official US Navy Photo, HG Nelson"

 

I have not been able to identify this ship by either the name HG Nelson or the hull number p121. I have search under cargo ships, liberty ships, and other vessels but I am coming up blank.

 

Could some of you here possibly assist me in finding more information about this ship?

 

Looking at the photo it appears to be alongside a dock, given the amount of life rafts on the side, I thought perhaps a troop transport ship or something of similar use, and I also noticed that this ship appears to have 2 smoke stacks, and I am not sure what the structure on the front of the ship is.. It looks almost like a fence line?? Is this part of the ships superstructure??

 

My apologies as ships/vessels are not really in my wheelhouse (unless they are PT boats)..  

 

Any help that anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you, best regards and Blessings, stay safe

 

Leigh  

Official_US_Navy_Photo,_HG_Nelson.JPG

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Bunkerhill,,

 

Thank you for the reply..

 

Do  you think this is the same ship???   There appears to be two smoke stacks on the HG Nelson.. or could there be another ship in the background??

 

I am waiting for more information from the sender to see if there was information on the back of the photo, not sure where the HG Nelson information came from... Hoping to hear back..

 

Thanks again..

 

Leigh

 

 

 

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NavSource identifies this ship as the USS Admiral W.L. Capps and has a similar photo shown in the first section, third from bottom at this site -

 

https://www.navsource.org/archives/09/22/22121.htm

 

It has also had the names -

USNS General Hugh J. Gaffey (T-AP-121) (1950 - 1978)
USAT General Hugh J. Gaffey (1946 - 1950)
USS Admiral W. L. Capps (AP-121) (1944 - 1946)

 

PA121.jpg.e43a3fcd6801907c00d91980bd893c99.jpg

 

 

 

Larry

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BHB, Larry,


Thank you very much.. I found similar information about the naming conventions of the ship.. I believe the last name of this vessel was the IX-507 which was a barracks ship for crews whose ships were undergoing major overhauls.. It was docked at Pearl Harbor until 2000ish when it was sunk (intentionally) by a missile in a training exercise..

 

Thank you for all your assistance..

 

So the last question would be about what BHB asked... in reference to the "p" on the hull... Indicating a transport ship perhaps??

 

Leigh 

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Thank you again Larry and BHB...

 

When I get more information as to where the name HG Nelson came from I will let you all know..

 

Stay safe..

 

Best regards and Blessings

 

Leigh

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Salvage Sailor
5 hours ago, US82Bravo said:

 

Sorry, no idea why just "P".

 

I use this list as a reference -     https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/abbreviations.html

 

Larry

 

In regard to the "P" on her hull.....a P means a Navy Transport, i.e. a personnel transport or AP.

 

She's an Auxiliary vessel, hull number (AP-121), and many US Navy Auxiliaries would have their type designation with their hull number displayed for easy identification by other USN vessels.  When this WWII era photo was taken this ship was a Navy Transport, known as an "AP", or Auxiliary Transport. As the "A" on all Auxiliaries is redundant, it is dropped for brevity from the hull number displayed on her bow.

 

Thus the USS Admiral W. L. Capps (AP-121) circa 1944 - 1946 shown as hull number P-121

 

There ya go.....

 

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Salvage Sailor,

 

Thank you for the additional information and clarification on the ship identification.  I will be sure to include this information when I speak to the museum patron about some of his artifacts.

 

Best regards and Blessings, stay safe

 

Leigh 

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